The counter-argument — it’s still early. It’s always early, right up until it’s too late. After eight games, standing at 3-5, are the Raptors any better than you thought they’d be? They’re exactly what you were afraid of — average. Averagely average. Possibly good enough to be crushed in a first-round playoff series.

After that happens, Lowry leaves anyway. Rudy Gay goes with him. The Raptors draft in the teens, hope for free-agent replacements who won’t come and it’s back to being terrible for two or three or infinity more seasons. For once, let’s have the sense to stop this ride before we puke.

If they’re neither/nor right now, they’re tending hopefully toward ‘nor.’ Imagine how they’ll look without a bonafide NBA point guard.

Are you ready for 30 nightly minutes of Dwight Buycks handling the ball like it’s been greased? Are you also ready for a top-five pick? Because those two things go together.

His market will get higher, but the need to shed his competence in order to serve the longer-term good will never be more acute.

How often is one player the key to the tank? Almost never. This deal isn’t just doable (preferably for picks); it’s easily doable.

Lowry is the dream back-up for just about every contender. Veteran, cheap ($6.2M), motivated, and then escapable.

The worst-case scenario for GM Masai Ujiri is hanging on too long, and still losing the season (and seasons to come) at the very end.

And the best case? Based on what we’ve seen, the best case is accepting the worst case while you can still get something out of it.

Good read. Masai's definitely got his hands full with dealing with lowry and gay. We cant afford to let these guys walk without getting anything in return. I'm not a fan of tanking but this needs to be addressed.